Biography

How it all started:

Korn was formed in 1993 with the combination of two bands: Sexart and LAPD. Sexart was the band that Jonathan Davis had led during his years as an assistant coroner in the Kern County (California) Coroners Department (also moonlighting as an undertaker at a nearby funeral home), having recently earned a degree at San Francisco's School of Mortuary Science. Jonathan was only in Sexart for about four months and did only one song with the lead singer which is on a Bakersfield compilation. LAPD was the band which included James "Munky" Shaffer (guitar), David Silveria (drums), Reginald "Fieldy Snuts" Arvizu (bass, later) and on tour only (not on the album) Brian "Head" Welch (guitar). LAPD was apparently bigger then Sexart and is not impossible to find, like Sexart is. Munky said: "Me, Fieldy, and David recorded it when we were about 18 or 19. You might even hear some Korn parts. That's when I played rippin' solos."

The bands first crossed paths when Munky and Brian were in Bakersfield one night, and they went to this bar where Sexart happened to be playing. According to Munky: "We were getting ready to leave, and just as we're walking out the door...Jon was the singer in that band, and we heard him sing and me and Brian both turned to each other and our jaws just... (drops jaw) oh my God. And so we turned around and went back in and watched the whole set." Later they asked him to join the band. Initially Jonathan didn't want to do it, but a psychic had told him that he would be stupid if he didn't do it, so he went and tried out. The rest, as they say, is history...

Stories behing songs:

All quotes from Jon Davis:

Ball Tongue: "The meaning of ball tongue is simple. Some thought it had to do with oral sex,

but infact its about a guy we had to work with on a t-shirt. He either had a pierced tongue

or a wart or something on his tongue and he was a dick to us"

Clown: "We were playing at this show in San Diego and this skinhead guy came up and said 'Fuck

You! Go back to bakersfield!' I didn't understand that I bent down and he took a swing at me.

Our road manager Jeff knocked gis ass out. So that song is 'Clown'..."

Faget: "Everyone thinks I'm bashing gay people in this song, and I'm not. It's really about me

going through highschool being called 'pussy', 'queer', and all that stuff, about getting

picked on by all these jocks."

Shoots and Ladder: "The lyrics are all from nursery rhymes, and a lot nursery rhymes go back

to the middle ages. They're actually pretty twisted if you know the stories behind them, like

about Black Death and stuff."

Helmet In The Bush: "It's about a speed problem that I had. You know, you do a lot of speed

and -- if you're a male -- your penis retracts severly." In the song he says: 'Please God let

me sleep tonight.' Jonathan had trouble sleeping, becuase that's what it does to you.

The guy heard at the beggining of the song is La Caco, a friend of the band. His real name is

Michael and like taco bell. He's a really Nice Guy and he has been friends with the band for

years.

Daddy: "People think Daddy was written becuase my dad fucked my up the ass, but thats not

what the song is about. It wasn't about my dad or my mom. When I was a kid I was being

abused by someone else and I went to my parents and told them about it. They thought I was

lying and joking around, so they never did shit about it. They didn't believe it was happening

to their son. I don't like to talk about that song, this is the most I've ever talked about it"

Chi: "Chi is about a lot of alcohol and drug abuse; people turn to that when they have problems so that they won't have to feel their pain." Jonathan has said that Chi is actually Chi Cheng from the Deftones: "We named it after him because he used to call it reggae, and he loves reggae music."

Swallow: "That's about being paranoid. Drug-induced paranoia."

Lost: "It's the sterotypical thing about your best friend meeting a chick, and then you're nothing."

Good God: "It's about a guy I knew in school who I thought was my friend, but who fucked me. He came into my life with nothing, hung out at my house, lived off me, and made me do shit I didn't really wanna do. I was into new romantic music and he was a mod, and he'd tell me if I didn't dress like a mod he wouldn't be my friend anymore. Whenever I had plans to go on a date with a chick he'd sabotage it, because he didn't have a date or nothing. He was a gutless fucking nothing. I haven't talked to him for years."

Mr. Rogers: "Back in the day when I was a speed freak, um... even further back when I was a little kid watchin' Mr. Rogers, that shit was scary. He was a freaky old man... Land of Makebelieve and Mr. FuckinMcFeely and shit... made me sick. So back when I was doing speed, like for 5 or 6 days I'd be trippin out and my brain would start to get freaky and get schizophrenic and stuff, and I'd tape it and watch it everyday over and over... I don't know, I was sick in the head. As a kid he told me to be polite and all it did was get me picked on. I fucking hate that man. Thanks for making me polite and trusting everyone, and easy to take advantage of. So I spent 3 months on that one song, just tweakin' on it, and it was totally just my Mr. Rogers obsession, about how evil I thought he was. Pretty much drug induced."; Ê; Kunt: "People think it's sexist but it isn't. It's more subconcious bitching at all the women who've been with me in my life. It's not about women in general, just those women who hurt me. Initially, we wrote it to send to American radio for a joke, because they always chop up all the other songs. So we were going to send a 'real' single seven days later."; Ê; Wicked: It's an Ice Cube song from his album "Predator". Chino, the lead singer of the Deftones, covers vocals.; Ê; Ass Itch: "That was the last song I wrote, and I was so burned at writing out lyrics because everytime I write I get depressed because I start thinking about things, you know? So the whole song is about that. In the chorus it says, 'Before day, my sun will be dying'. It's because I put myself on the line all the time and for what? Because people aren't going to be listening to it anyway."; Ê; Kill You: "It's about a relative I first met when I was 12. I fucking hate that bitch. She's the most evil, fucked up person I've met in my whole life. She hated my guts. She did everything she could to make my life hell. Like, when I was sick she'd feed me tea with Tabasco, which is really hot pepper oil. She'd make me drink it by saying, 'You have to burn that cold out, boy'. Fucked up shit like that. So every night when I'd go to sleep, I'd dream of killing that bitch. In some sick way I had a sexual fantasy about her, and I don't know what that stems from or why, but I always dreamt about fucking her and killing her."
Ê